The genetic legacy of the wild ancestors of modern cattle

Linderholm, Anna

doi:10.1038/d41586-024-03395-1

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30 October 2024

The genetic legacy of the wild ancestors of modern cattle

Analyses of ancient DNA from aurochs — large, wild cattle that co-existed with humans for millennia — reveals how early humans tamed these beasts and bred them with domesticated cattle for strength and resilience.

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Anna Linderholm ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1613-9926⁰

Anna Linderholm
1. Anna Linderholm is in the Centre for Palaeogenetics, Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden.
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According to modern legend, cow tipping involves pushing over an unsuspecting, sleeping cow, but you wouldn’t have wanted to try it with an aurochs (Bos primigenius). These large, wild cattle stood between 155 and 180 centimetres tall and could weigh more than 1,000 kilograms. Despite the aurochs’s massive size, humans managed to tame these animals, which are the predecessors of today’s domesticated cattle (Bos taurus). Writing in Nature, Rossi et al.¹ report analyses of ancient DNA from the skeletal remains of 38 aurochs from across Eurasia, shedding light on when and how humans domesticated these animals. Although aurochs are now extinct, their descendants, modern domesticated cattle, make up a large part of Earth’s mammalian biomass, and their domestication marks a milestone in human history.

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Nature 635, 43-45 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03395-1

References

Rossi, C. et al. Nature 635, 136–141 (2024).
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Article PubMed Google Scholar
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Linderholm, A. & Larson, G. Sem. Cell Dev. Biol. 24, 587–593 (2013).
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Provan, J. & Bennett, K. D. Trends Ecol. Evol. 23, 564–571 (2008).
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MacHugh, D. E., Larson, G. & Orlando, L. Annu. Rev. Animal Biosci. 5, 329–351 (2017).
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The author declares no competing interests.

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[1] Rossi, C. et al. Nature 635, 136–141 (2024).
Article Google Scholar

[2] van Vuure, C. Retracing the Aurochs: History, Morphology and Ecology of an Extinct Wild Ox (Pensoft, 2005).
Google Scholar

[3] de Carvalho, C. N. et al. Sci. Rep. 12, 9911 (2022).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[4] Bailey, J. F. et al. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 263, 1467–1473 (1996).
Article Google Scholar

[5] Troy, C. S. et al. Nature 410, 1088–1091 (2001).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[6] Edwards, C. J. et al. Proc. R. Soc. B 274, 1377–1385 (2007).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[7] Verdugo, M. P. et al. Science 365, 173–176 (2019).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[8] Linderholm, A. & Larson, G. Sem. Cell Dev. Biol. 24, 587–593 (2013).
Article Google Scholar

[9] Provan, J. & Bennett, K. D. Trends Ecol. Evol. 23, 564–571 (2008).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[10] MacHugh, D. E., Larson, G. & Orlando, L. Annu. Rev. Animal Biosci. 5, 329–351 (2017).
Article Google Scholar

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